Some common driving myths that many believe are true.

There are so many drivers on the road today that it is a wonder more accidents don’t happen. Fortunately, most people are attentive and cautious drivers and it is only a few that cause most of the problems we face on the road today. As with most things, the world of motoring has few misconceptions that have come about over the years. Here are a few myths that people regularly accept as true that really aren’t.

It has long been a rumor especially with teenagers who are looking forward to taking their driving test that driving test examiners must fail a certain number of people. This doesn’t even make sense if you really think about it. What would be the point of failing a good driver and possibly passing a less than adequate driver to put everyone in danger. This myth was probably started by some teenager who was failed even though he or she was convinced they were a good driver.

Distracted drivers have been increasingly blamed for rising numbers of traffic accidents and fatalities in the past few years. The culprit is seen by many to be texting on smartphones while driving. Lately it has been assumed by many that using the hands-free features of new phones will make it much safer to use the phone while driving. To the contrary, several studies have shown that talking on a phone even using Bluetooth is still a distraction and some claim even more dangerous.

Many older drivers remember being told that the proper position of the hands while driving was at the 10 and 2 o’clock positions. While this may have been considered the optimum driving grasp in the past, today with advent of air bags it is no longer considered so. Placing your hands at 9 and 3 now seems to be the more acceptable steering wheel grasp now.